Subaru Outback Quality Problem

I own a 2000 Subaru Outback. The front stabilizer bar recently snapped broken. When I picked up the new part from the dealership, I realized that the counter guy seemed to be very familier with the problem. He asked me if the bar broke at the front left about six inches from the end, and IT DID!

When I reflected this to Subaru America they refused to acknowledge the problem being broad. I now wonder whether that dealership's observation is indeed a wide problem. Can anyone who also owns an Outback tell me your experience?

Ours is an '05 with just shy of 40K on it. It's the next gen so I'm not sure if the same parts are used. Our only chronic problem with it is that the headlights burn out about every 15K miles. My '99 Taurus has 114K and the headlight bulbs are the originals.

I'd pose the question on some Soob owners' site like LegacyGT.com and see what they say.
-------------------------------------------Bad decisions make good stories.

chl:I own a 2000 Subaru Outback. The front stabilizer bar recently snapped broken. When I picked up the new part from the dealership, I realized that the counter guy seemed to be very familier with the problem. He asked me if the bar broke at the front left about six inches from the end, and IT DID!

When I reflected this to Subaru America they refused to acknowledge the problem being broad. I now wonder whether that dealership's observation is indeed a wide problem. Can anyone who also owns an Outback tell me your experience?

It seems to me that Subaru probably knows about the problem but never did a recall due to a certain number of owners of that particular model in which the problem has occurred.

It happened to me once on my old Isuzu Trooper, where as on the 3.5L engine with 80K miles on it, constantly used oil, due to a leak around the O-Rings. Took it into the dealership and complained for about an hour, until the service manager came out, told me to leave the vehicle with him. He got me a free rental (which I thought was strange due to the fact that the truck had only cost me $21K). About a week later he called me to tell me to pick up my vehicle, I didn't need to bring any money, the ENGINE had been replaced under warranty (120K warranty at the time) and that he was sorry for the problem.

Reflecting back on things I LOVED my Trooper. I originally bought it because I loved the styling and it was pretty inexpensive even though it gave off the air of quality (Even Acura rebadged it at the time as an Acura SLX), plus it was a GM product for all intent purposes.

Had Toyota handled their situation with me, when I had the Camry, the same way, who knows...
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YEP! Exact same issue. 2000 outback, 60K miles. Girlfriend took her car in for oil change and 60k check-up (rotate balance, brake inspect, etc). No problems driving car in. NOTHING WAS NOTED WHEN THE WHEELS WERE OFF FOR THE "SAFETY INSPECTION". She picked it up her first right turn after leaving she heard a clunk. While driving home she heard a few more clunks on right turns. She goes to the store and the hanging end ot the sway bar gets caught between the pavement and the inside of the front drivers wheel. CLUNK GRIND!!!Dealer has car towed 20 miles to his shop, looks at it and says " Sorry, it's out of waranty." With the tow and the repair she is looking at just over $500!!! Amazing the bar would snap at the bend on the drivers side just below the body mount only 20 miles after a safety inspection . The best the dealer will do is let her pay half now and the second half next month! Subaru Of America has NOT heard the last of this.

*** This car has burned though 3 or 4 headlight bulbs in the last two years.

chl:I own a 2000 Subaru Outback. The front stabilizer bar recently snapped broken. When I picked up the new part from the dealership, I realized that the counter guy seemed to be very familier with the problem. He asked me if the bar broke at the front left about six inches from the end, and IT DID!

When I reflected this to Subaru America they refused to acknowledge the problem being broad. I now wonder whether that dealership's observation is indeed a wide problem. Can anyone who also owns an Outback tell me your experience?

Cmicasa the Great XxXxXxX:It seems to me that Subaru probably knows about the problem but never did a recall due to a certain number of owners of that particular model in which the problem has occurred.

It happened to me once on my old Isuzu Trooper, where as on the 3.5L engine with 80K miles on it, constantly used oil, due to a leak around the O-Rings. Took it into the dealership and complained for about an hour, until the service manager came out, told me to leave the vehicle with him. He got me a free rental (which I thought was strange due to the fact that the truck had only cost me $21K). About a week later he called me to tell me to pick up my vehicle, I didn't need to bring any money, the ENGINE had been replaced under warranty (120K warranty at the time) and that he was sorry for the problem.

Reflecting back on things I LOVED my Trooper. I originally bought it because I loved the styling and it was pretty inexpensive even though it gave off the air of quality (Even Acura rebadged it at the time as an Acura SLX), plus it was a GM product for all intent purposes.

Had Toyota handled their situation with me, when I had the Camry, the same way, who knows...

I never liked Subaru, Ive had two friends that have owned them, an outback (1999) and a outback sport (2002). The outback had headlight and paint peeling problems mainly around the fenders (Subaru was to cheap to use real fender flairs so they where just painted on). As for the outback sport, the body panels where to thin (even more so than my Aveo) and dented, he also had paint problems on the roof and a broken passenger side door handle, the dealership experience was also abysmal.

I had the identical problem with my 2000 Outback Ltd.: Left front sway bar snapped in two, about six inches from the wheel. The week before, the same thing happened to my friend's 1999 Outback Ltd. I, too, would like to know how widespread the problem is!

When you think about the job a sway bar is asked to perform, I personally don't find it unusual that they have problems - and they do. The job of the bar is to move lateral forces from one side of the car from the other - helping the car to maintain a more level attitude in corners. So every time you go around a corner, the sway bar is asked to transfer some of that lateral force from one side of the car to the other. Drive aggressively, and even more stress is placed on the bar. You might want to consider a larger, after-market replacement sway bar in the future. I'm also guessing that when the counter person said it snapped 6 inches from the end, that this point would have been near the sway bar mounting point, an area of great stress.

As an aside, Ford SuperDuty trucks don't have a problem with the bar breaking, but the front end links that in part mount the bar to the frame either bend, wear out their bushings, or both. My truck has a front sway bar, but unfortunately didn't come with a rear sway bar. I installed an after market sway bar from Hellwig two weeks ago. What an amazing difference in vehicle stability in corners.

Perhaps sway bars are something of a wear item. Given the forces that are put on the bar, that's how I would view them.

Subaru won't budge on the issue. Service writer has "never seen" this problem before. My only recourse is to find a trusted shop besides the "trusted" dealer. I coulda (and will next time)replaced this part with an aftermarket (stronger) sport sway bar for about $160 and one hour. For the $500+ repair bill they did not even align the front end. I have lost alot of faith in subaru service.

I have a 2000 Outback Legacy (195K) and the front right sway bar broke about 8 inches from the end. The car seemed to handle alright on the drive home of about 8 miles. Is the car still drivable until I get it fixed?

My most enduring car was of course a 1996 Chevy Lumina 3.1 litre. It was purchased used with 25K+ miles. When we parted it had 268K miles on it and still purred like a kitten. So much better than any sorry ass Camry anyone has ever had the displeasure of driving. The 2 POS Toyota's I've ever dared 2 own in my 33 years on this rock, the Camry and Tercel, were the worst cars ever produced. The Camry bought with less than a thousand miles on it cost me more $$$ than a hooker girlfriend with a Coke habit. The Tercel wasn't as bad, but in the end it did leave me stranded on the side of 95N. Thank God 4 cell phones and a 4giving girlfriend. This was in 1996. The car might still be there 2 this day if my dad had not went up with his roll back and pick the car up.

After that I was done with them for GOOD..(I won)and NEVER to return to those SOBs...

plus they are Japanese company...I just don't want to see them do well in America...I'm as biased as U can get without me going to Toyota central with a rope and crazy ideas of stringing up Katsuaki Watanabe and Jim Press...
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